Who discovered these 600 cut dialogue lines?

Keff0, a recognized modder in the RE community who had already restored and made the Chapter 0 of the remake playable. His work is based on actual file extraction, which gives solid technical credibility to his findings.

What Merchant line mentions Village?

The Merchant says: "Ah, I see that villages are no strangers to you. The Duke? That fellow shows promise." It's a direct reference to the Duke character from Resident Evil Village.

Why did Capcom remove this line?

Capcom has made no official statement. It's possible that including a Village character in the remake could have bothered some players, or narrative reasons may have led to its removal, but nothing really confirms the motive.

Are there any other interesting cut content?

Yes, unused Merchant death animations were found, suggesting he could have been killed in-game with his shop permanently closing, which would have brought the remake closer to the original.

RE4 Remake Leak: 600 Cut Lines Linked the Game to Village

A dataminer claims to have extracted over 600 previously unheard lines from the Resident Evil 4 remake, revealing that Capcom may have considered a direct link to Village. This could reshuffle the deck on what might have been a completely different game.

According to this leak, the PS5 launch disc reportedly contains 671 fully English-dubbed voice lines absent from the PC version. Cut dialogue from Leon, Luis, Ashley and especially the Merchant would be found there, including one line that explicitly references the Duke from Village:

Ah, I see villages aren't unfamiliar to you. The Duke? Now that fellow shows promise.

The leak would also mention unused death animations for the Merchant, suggesting he could have been killed in-game, with his shop then closing for good.

An Already Known and Documented Source

The leak comes from Keff0, a modder already recognized in the RE community for having restored and made playable the cut Chapter 0 of the remake. His past work, based on actual file extraction rather than hallway rumors, gives him solid technical credibility in this field. The discovery was also shared by specialized accounts like RENEWS on X, which boosts its circulation without constituting official confirmation.

Capcom has made no statement regarding these files. Nothing proves that this Merchant line was ever part of a validated script, nor why it would have been removed. The content appears to be technically verified, but its narrative interpretation remains speculative.